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Beautiful Technique

Beautiful Technique is an in-depth video reference guide for foundational belly dance vocabulary, with a focus on theatrical Oriental dance.

Don't own Beautiful Technique? Buy the DVD directly from me here. You can also purchase the DVD through Amazon or other merchants, or rent a streaming online video through World Dance New York.

Beautiful Plans is my independently-produced companion guide for the video program. I originally designed Beautiful Plans as a paper booklet, but it's now available to view on this site. To get started, look over the Table of Contents.

For new updates, scroll to the bottom of this blog and look at posts tagged "Beautiful Technique."

From the back of the DVD box:

Beautiful Technique from Step One is a
unique in-depth instructional program for beginners designed to give
you a master-level understanding of the basics. The program teaches
belly dance technique and vocabulary with an emphasis on creating a
polished, finished look for each individual step from the very start.

Autumn Ward, a star belly dance
performer and instructor based in New York City, applies a systematic
step-by-step method of building belly dance moves from the primary
components, such as body angles, tilts and shifts, weight transfers,
and muscular contractions and releases, that underlie the fundamental
vocabulary of every style of belly dance.

Awareness of the key technical
components of every move enables you to perfect your form and
execution of dance steps, so that you can perform each step with
ease, grace, and a clean and elegant body line, even if you are a new
beginner. For each move, Autumn analyzes and demonstrates alignment,
engagement, and flow, addressing both anatomy and sensation, guiding
you to absorb the fundamentals and to discover where technique grows
into expressivity.

Autumn teaches each group of dance
steps three different ways: Technique, Practice Flows, and
Choreography. She offers both theory of dance movement and
beautifully-designed practice drills to make each step sink deep into
your muscle memory.

The Technique section guides you
through basic terminology and concepts, arm positions and paths, and
foundation building blocks, the primary components of belly dance
vocabulary. Then Autumn shows you how to progressively build five
different groups of isolations, and offers a broad selection of
movements and movement breakdowns.

To practice, polish, and enjoy your new
skills, dance along with Autumn's Practice Flows, nine dance practice
segments set to beautiful, haunting melodies. Follow detailed voice
cues or enjoy the music-only version of the Flows.

As you build comfort with the dance
vocabulary, try the movements in context, in the Practice
Choreography. Continuing in the same follow-along format as the
Flows, the Choreography puts a special emphasis on musicality and
expression, putting together all steps taught in the program into
sequences of combinations.

Autumn Ward's Beautiful Technique from
Step One will teach and encourage you to dance with the radiant
feeling of an open, lifted heart. You will build clean isolations
polished with sophisticated technique, and learn the skills that will
allow you to give a finished look to any style of belly dance -
cabaret, tribal, ethnic, or fusion styles - or just to enjoy the
feeling of creating beauty.